As I now enter my fourth year of blogging I thought it would be appropriate to do a bit of spring cleaning; an evaluation with the purpose of improving both the Black Iris and my blogging capacity. While I hate surveys and trust them even less, I do appreciate honesty. So I wanted to open up the forum for anyone who reads the Black Iris to offer me their suggestions, recommendations, opinions, areas of improvement and constructive criticism; either by leaving a comment or emailing me. This is not meant for me to change who I am or what this blog has become to suit the reader, but rather a process of evolution as there are small things that can undoubtedly be changed to provide a better reading experience. It will also give me a chance to search for the answers you as a reader might provide me with, to the questions I’ve been asking myself for some time.
These questions include but are not limited to:
– Shorter and numerous posts, or longer and fewer posts?
– Focusing more on certain Jordanian issues, or focusing less on Jordan as a whole?
– Changing the design.
– Technical features that might make the reading experience better.
etc, etc.
Mr. Black Iris,
You are doing great reflecting on the societal conditions in Jordan. My only comment, or actually request, is to have a place in you heart (blogging) about business in Jordan. Other than that, I very much enjoy reading your blog.
Thanks.
globalorama: thanks. just to clarify, you mean “business” as in investments and business-related news, right?
Salam, do you want that here on the comments or in a private email? I have some topic suggestions as well. Thanks.
yes sir.
I love the Black Iris, you’re doing a great Job.
If I may, I would prefer less full article quote with a single line commentary and more single line quote and a full article on your side.
Also, try not to take my comments negatively and personally. Or any other reader for that matter.
Keep up the good work. Ya3teek alf 3afyeh
Um Omar: Salam, either/or will be fine. Up to you 🙂
Globalorama: will do.
Qwaider: Thanks for the suggestions.
I was afraid you were going to annouce something negative, like NOT blogging!
Mine is not the kind of comment you want to hear: I love it as is.
Maybe, tho, hubby and I would appreciate a monthly list of your topics in Jordan Busines. Not the articles, but like JO does to give an idea what is in the mag. We would buy it more often, having an idea what is in it. Not to toot your own horn like I do (:D) but as a service to potential print readers.
I love your blog! 🙂
kinzi: thanks. well i try to keep a healthy distance between my day job and the blog so as not to instigate a conflict of interest if you know what i mean. it’s a tricky thing when you work in the media sector. so you won’t see me posting anything by JB here, although I will or might some times plug a story I think falls strictly in line with the tone of this blog and I feel people should be reading it. That being said, I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about with regards to the list, but if I’m getting the right sense of what you’re saying then perhaps the content pages we upload on the JB Facebook group can be helpful 🙂
Roba: I love yours too! But I wish I shared your love for surveys! 😀
Nas, no critiques here. Keep up the good work.
Nas, I understand. I better way of phrasing my ? would have been: “Does JB have a FB group?”. I will now check it out. 🙂
Simply the checkbox that will automatically email you when someone else has commented on the same post.
Out of curiosity, did you add the (type here) watermark, or did that come with the theme ?
Dave: thanks, be sure to drop me a line when you do have some.
Kinzi: please do and share it as well! This link may help.
Hani: ah yes, I had that box and it disappeared along with a bunch of other nifty things when my site went down for 10 days last november. i’ll bring it back for the time being. no the annoying ‘type here’ came with the theme and i’m planning on a redesign very soon anyways. thanks for the feedback 🙂
Naseem,
I think it should reflect your insight (short, long, detailed, questioning) whatever you have to say about a certain subject. And not what people would prefer to read.
I think your blog is the best among what I check. I highly value your Jordan related posts, very professional though you imply your opinion but you do not twist facts to prove your point.
Keep it up, and wish you the best.
Definitely continue with the Jordan themed posts … progress can only happen if people start discussing the things they CAN change (i.e. unions and minimum wage)… not meaning to insult the Danish cartoon commotion but given ur previous posts on the subject I hope you understand what I mean …
And I guess this relates to your post the other day on accountable blogging … mainstream media have less interaction with their readers/audience, so on what grounds are they considered more accountable?
Anyway, drifting off topic, keep up the great work … brilliant blog!
I love yoru blog, I just like to see my link to my blog in yur links section;)
One thing you should NOT change under any circumstances is the header. It’s just lovable 🙂
And I’d also suggest a little bit shorter articles 🙂
I enjoy reading your blog , Just wishing you’d start reviewing items and books or getting deeper into the real problems in The Jordanian Society
I love your blog too, mabrook your 4th anniversary. 😀
sorry, i have no suggestions at the moment, but i will give you MY opinion regarding your blog!
The black iris is the one and only blog i’ve been continuously reading on a daily basis for about two years. And yes, I read some entries over and over on those days when you don’t post any new ones!
what i mostly love about your blog is the consistency and the over all coherence in your treatment of Jordanian related matters. Also, your reviews of movies/songs/soundtracks are encouraging.
OK maybe some contests and prizes? LOOOOOL . Just kidding.
I like personal posts personally. Maybe not your blogging style but your persoanl posts are always good. Some more of those please.
W bas, that’s it.
Thanks to all the aforementioned people post-my last comment, your words are very kind and much appreciated. Also a special thanks to those who emailed me, your comments (if not analysis!) provided me with some good insight I need. Thanks again.
A few messages:
Ahmad: I understand what you’re saying any my goal here isn’t to adjust what I say or don’t say, it is to find a few critical points that can help this become a better blog and myself a better blogger. at the end of the day we start off blogging by catering to ourselves but we also end up catering to an audience inevitably, so some middle ground should be reached with regards to preferences. thanks 🙂
Adoosh: thanks for the tip 😉
NixO-san: hmm, i’ll take that into consideration, thanks.
7aki: hmm, contests may not be a bad idea 😀 but your note on personal posts is interesting as im trying to find a way to incorporate them without screwing things up as i dont like swaying from serious issues to personal issues as both have their own different tone and audience. thanks
Hi Nas,
I’m too busy to browse blogs, after some experimenting yours is the ONLY blog I read as an expatriate. So please keep the focus on Jordan (within that of course you have a lot of freedom), though I like how you sometimes spice things up with other issues (e.g. the black matter article a few weeks ago). Maybe I’m not helping much here, but I truly believe that you have excellent judgment, so really just keep doing what you’re doing now. Don’t limit yourself to lengths, types of comments, topics…etc… I think the variety draws all of us.
I also have to say, that I truly admire the level and quality of comments of other readers –very refreshing to know that such people still exist in Jordan and have not been utterly consumed by the shallowness of prevailing pop culture!
First of all I have to say I just like this blog as it is.
So I have only one little suggestions: Qwaider stated something about your “full quote articles” with only on line of commentary. Well, it’s fine to wish you’d write more about what you quote there, but sometimes you can’t. So what about using del.icio.us or twitter for these quote + single line commentary posts?
Generally speaking, I really enjoy reading this blog. It’s not just informative but your writing style and personal opinion makes it quite entertaining.
For me personally, as someone who was born and raised a different country and hasn’t visited Jordan in a long time I don’t really read/connect with some of posts on local issues especially local politics….so since you did ask…I would prefer less focus on Jordan local politics, but that’s just me I’m sure many readers would disagree.
Also, I wish you’d interact with the readers more like replying to comments more frequently and/or engaging in the discussions that resulted from your posts.
Great job, this is definitely a high quality blog!